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Fans attending this week’s Grey Cup Festival in Regina shouldn’t have to worry about calling a taxi or Uber.
On Monday, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Grey Cup Festival volunteer host committee, the Regina Hotel Association and the City of Regina announced they’ll be providing free shuttles to the Grey Cup Festival at REAL District and the game at Mosaic Stadium.
The shuttles will run every 30 minutes from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. from Thursday through Saturday for people heading to the Grey Cup Festival at REAL District.
On game day, the shuttles will run every 30 minutes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then continuously until 6 p.m. After the game, buses will start leaving in the fourth quarter and the last bus will depart one hour after the game is over.
In total, the shuttles will stop at 27 different hotels, four stops in the Warehouse District, two stops downtown, one at the University of Regina and another at Southland Mall.
The stops in the Warehouse District, University of Regina and Southland Mall will all have free park-and-ride options.
Everyone involved says their goal with the free shuttles is to ensure people have a safe way to and from the venues.
Given the number of people that will be descending on the REAL District grounds, Insp. Chris Jackiw suggests that taking advantage of the free shuttles will be people’s best option if they plan on checking out the festivities.
“I would suggest taking advantage of the transportation. (Transit officials) do a great job and I know Transit has increased the number of buses to get to the REAL footprint, as well as on game day,” he explained.
“It stops people from drinking and driving. Parking is always at a premium around the stadium and Transit is the best opportunity for that.”
Those driving into Regina from out of town for the big game and festival are being asked to arrive early if they’re trying to find a parking space.
Jackiw adds those heading to Mosaic Stadium on game day can expect the same ingress process as a typical Riders game.
“It’s going to stay pretty much the same. We’re going to increase some of those stop points just to ensure we have a safe ingress and egress to ensure the flowing of buses and emergency vehicles as smoothly as possible,” he said.
Jackiw also mentioned police will have an increased security presence on game day.
“As more events take place, we’ve increased the police resources that will be present. We will have permanent police resources throughout the venues,” he said.
“For game day, there’s a lot of officers working — I would suggest up to 100 between the traffic stops, public safety unit inside the stadium, as well as other officers that will be present on site.”
As for how hotels are doing, the Regina Hotel Association says rooms are 100 per cent sold out, but CEO Tracy Fahlman said there is a chance some bookings could become available.
“What we recommend is anyone still looking for a hotel room is call the hotel directly. Not all hotel rooms are posted online or third-party sites,” she said.
Fahlman adds there are 1,100 more hotel rooms this time around than in 2013. She added hotels are ready to welcome fans from across the country.